Using my Apple Watch as a sleep tracker has been an eye-opening experience. While I've been rocking the same Apple Watch for six years, I recently upgraded to a newer model, partly due to its additional features and partly because I'm always tempted by impulse buys like the "Every" subscription, promising that new purchases will pull me from the brink of chaotic health.
During the week of my new gadget, I wasn't on track to become the picture of perfect health, but I did learn a few things about my activity level and, more importantly, my sleep habits. I'm convinced that I overindulge in pre-bed rituals, so I wanted to see if the sleep data from my "luxury sleep session" would validate this assumption and justify my investment in fancy sleep aids like lavender spray and silk pillowcases, as recommended by Aussiedlerbote.
While the Apple Watch can't quite measure electrical brain activity or employ high-level scientific techniques like a medical professional, it does monitor breathing and movement. The most important thing I learned from wearing this nifty gadget to bed is that I am actually only sleeping for six hours and 26 minutes on average. Oops!
The Apple Watch also provides valuable insights into sleep patterns through its pre-installed sleep app. You'll need to define your sleep plan in the app, which may require some honesty about your bedtime habits, as the watch won't magically know when you've climbed under the covers. If you meet the requirement of sleeping at least four hours a night, you can set individual plans for weekdays, weekends, or special occasions if you have specific requirements.
The watch will determine when you've woken up the following day, and you'll see a graph displaying the time you spent in the three sleep stages—REM, deep sleep, and core sleep. REM sleep is the phase where you do most of your dreaming, deep sleep is a restorative phase beneficial for both your brain and body, and core sleep refers to lighter sleep that doesn't meet the criteria for either REM or deep sleep.
Although the graph is interesting, the most significant takeaway is the total sleep time. While sleep stage data is an added bonus (unless you have specific sleep issues to address), the real focus should be on the total sleep hours. By challenging myself to refrain from checking E-mails, scrolling, or reading before bed, I can maximize my total sleep time.
It's important to note that battery life is a consideration if you plan to wear the watch to bed. If you don't charge your watch before bed, it might die in the middle of the night, rendering the device useless for sleep tracking. With this in mind, consider using a portable Apple Watch charger to ensure your device stays powered up all night long.
Though the Apple Watch isn't a medical professional, its sleep tracking feature can provide valuable insights into your nightly rest. By taking care to load the watch reliably and allowing it to interact with other smart devices such as your smartphone and AirPods, you can capture an accurate picture of your sleep patterns and make informed decisions about how to improve your slumber.
